Warren Commission (13 of 26): Hearings Vol. XIII (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (13 of 26): Hearings Vol. XIII (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Said--he said, “We’ll pull through the basement of the city hall,”
said, “You go get Ruby out of the jail anyway you want to, on a “tempo”
or whatever you think best, and bring him down to me, down in the
elevator and we’ll pull through the basement at some given time, and
we’ll load him up and whisk him right on down and let another squad
follow us and we will take him right on down to the county jail.”
Said, “The sheriff--I haven’t called Decker or the chief about it,
either.” Said, “Do you think it will work?”
I said, “Yes.” Said, “How many men--got enough there to help you with
him?”
I said, “Yes, there is three or four here I can get.”
“Don’t tell anybody where you are going. Just get them like you are
going after coffee and get downstairs or somewhere and tell them what
you are going to do.”
So, I went into the squad room (Captain Fritz had called) Lieutenant
Wells, and told him not to let the officers out of the office because
he wanted us when he got in there so I just walked out and motioned
to Mr. Brown and Dhority and Mr. Beck and told them to follow me, and
didn’t say a word to anyone, and walked downstairs, and, of course,
they are curious, and when I got downstairs I outlined the deal to
them and told Beck and Brown to get the car--get the other car in the
basement and have it in position to go out, and Dhority and I went up
and got the prisoner and brought him down.
Mr. HUBERT. Brought him down the jail elevator?
Mr. LEAVELLE. Down the jail elevator.
Mr. HUBERT. Were any newsmen down in the station?
Mr. LEAVELLE. Beg your pardon?
Mr. HUBERT. Were there any newsmen down in the basement?
Mr. LEAVELLE. In fact, when I walked out one of the newspapermen asked
me when we were going to transfer Ruby and I said, “Oh, I don’t know.”
And just like that, and walked on.
Mr. HUBERT. You had Ruby with you?
Mr. LEAVELLE. You mean--oh, no; the officers and I walking down. When
we brought Ruby down in the jail elevator, that elevator is never in
view of the public. It is an inside elevator. Never in view of the
public, so, anyway, after talking to the captain, I set my watch with
his and said, “Be there at exactly 11:15.”
So, he set his watch with mine and we brought Ruby down. That is the
reason--I got down there about a minute and a half, 2 minutes early to
the basement and told the lieutenant on duty, told everybody not to
ring for the elevator that we would have it tied up, just held him in
the elevator.
Mr. HUBERT. Kept Ruby in the elevator?
Mr. LEAVELLE. Kept Ruby in the elevator. Mr. Brown standing outside of
the jail office, Mr. Beck had his car, his motor running in the parking
basement, and Mr. Brown was standing there talking to one of the men in
the jail office just as though he was passing the time of day, and he
was to give me the nod as soon as the captain’s car pulled in on the
ramp, which he did.
Mr. HUBERT. Which side did he pull in on?
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